Redemption comes for the weary and worn

Friday

Mar 15, 2013 at 4:52 PM

Ugh. I had almost finished my grocery shopping when I remembered. At least I was still in the store. Pushing my cart all the way to the back of the store again, I spotted the forgotten item. Well, actually, it was a case of forgotten items: 24 single-serving bottles of water. No big deal. Right?

Donna Smith

Ugh. I had almost finished my grocery shopping when I remembered. At least I was still in the store. Pushing my cart all the way to the back of the store again, I spotted the forgotten item. Well, actually, it was a case of forgotten items: 24 single-serving bottles of water. No big deal. Right?Wrong. It wouldn't have been a big deal. But for a couple of weeks, I had been dealing with an aggravating ache in my upper right arm. The P.E. teacher at my school had diagnosed my pain as, most likely, a rotator cuff injury. I knew I couldn't hoist the case of water into my cart with my left arm alone. So I grimaced and looked around to make sure that nobody was close enough to hear me groan as I struggled to get the case of water to the bottom rack of my cart. "OUCH!" I silently moaned.Old woman. I'm just an old woman. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for myself. My husband would have helped me if I had asked him to come to the store with me. But I had just left a meeting at church, and the store was a convenient stop on the way home. And I needed the water. I didn't like not being able to do things for myself. I didn't like feeling helpless. I haven't always had health issues. In fact, I actually was a young lady who didn't take my health for granted. Every time I had the opportunity to check the little box that said "excellent," as far as health was concerned, I whispered a prayer of thanksgiving. I had known too many older people who struggled with pain every day. But now I am the older person. My health is far from "excellent," and I don't like it. But I was too wise to know that just "not liking it" was not going to make things better. Complaining and moaning and groaning certainly wasn't the answer either. So I decided to do a little research. Over and over I read that the muscles and tendons that connect the upper arm bone with the shoulder blade often weaken and tear by overuse and overload. One source said it this way: "The rotator cuff tendons often tear in people who are 40 and older because tendons have been worn down slowly from the stresses of everyday work and activities." Hmmm. The stresses of everyday work and activities, huh? Yes, I'm sure that could be the cause of my achy arm. But could it also be the cause of achy attitudes? Achy, broken spirits? Or what about aching hearts? I was riding to school a few days later when the words of a song playing on the radio jolted my old achy heart. "I'm tired. I'm worn. My heart is heavy from the work it takes to keep on breathing. I've made mistakes. I've let my hope fail. My soul feels crushed by the weight of this world, and I know that you can give me rest, so I cry out with all that I have left."For a moment, I didn't feel the pain in my aching arm. No, the aches I felt weren't physical at all. In fact, the real aches weren't even mine. My heart was aching for someone I love, who, at this moment, can't even call out to God in his own strength. He is too weak, too worn.So I cried out for him. And for all the others who don't have the strength, for those whose aches are far worse than my physical pain could ever be."Let me see redemption win," wafted the words of the song, words that settled over me like a warm blanket. "Let me know the struggle ends, that you can mend a heart that's frail and torn. I want to know a song can rise from the ashes of a broken life and all that's dead inside can be reborn." ("Worn" by Tenth Avenue North)Or, as in the words of my Savior, recorded in my favorite book, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28Just like rest and time and maybe even delicate surgery can repair my aching arm, I know there is healing for a broken life. And because my Savior was himself broken, bruised and despised, he also calls out to the "whosoevers" of this world, to those who are dead inside, to those who are hopeless, and, in the words of the song, to those who have lost their will to fight even before the day begins. Yes, my Jesus calls out to the world with a message of hope.So heaven, come and flood their eyes. Let them see redemption win. Let them hear your song, Lord, with the perfect melody of a song that can come only from the ashes of a broken life that has been reborn. And please, Lord, let me hear it, too.Donna Tobin Smith is pianist and Sunday school teacher at Bethel United Methodist Church in Thomasville.

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